The Unpredictability of the Weather: Winter 2012

Around this time last year, those on the East Coast experienced an unusually early winter storm. Dubbed the Halloween Nor’easter, the October 30th storm moved up the East Coast and left many residents of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast breaking out the snow shovels and sleds early. The East Coast wasn’t the only area that has experienced extreme weather of late. Those out in the Pacific Northwest have experienced ravaging wild fires this summer and fall. This is due to a combination of drought-like conditions combined with dry thunderstorms. Seattle, for example, experienced nearly 50 dry days in a row.

If you have a business of any sort, these instances of extreme weather are terrifying. Extreme weather can cause down lines, fires and other disastrous results that could result in the IT system going down. Therefore, the year’s storms and natural disasters only reinforce the fact that managed IT services must include viable and tested disaster recovery in order to keep the business up and running. However, it’s never too cautious to take a look at what next year’s winter may look like in order to prepare. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its weather forecast for the 2012 winter season and the jury is still out for many parts of the nation.

El Nino is Back

Why the mystery? It all has to do with El Nino. Last year, we had the opposite of El Nino, La Nina, and this caused many in North America to miss out on the rough stormy conditions that can sometimes occur in the wintertime. Heck, even Chicago was spared from a rough winter. However, this year many meteorologists expected El Nino to already make its appearance. It hasn’t. This means that many parts of the United States still have a big question mark. The Pacific Northwest looks like it should experience warmer temperatures, but events can happen.

Protect Your Business Assets

This just goes to show that if you’re a business, you must have good disaster recovery in your managed IT services. It’s like insurance – you hope that you never have to use it, but you’re happy that it’s there if you do. Good disaster recovery will involve frequent testing to determine whether or not it needs improvement. It will ensure that your IT services do not go down in the event of a disaster of any sort. Disaster recovery can be the difference between the life and death of a small business. According to the National Archives, 93% of businesses that lost their data center for more than ten days had to file for bankruptcy within in the year. This is something that cannot be ignored.

Predicting the weather is…well predicting the weather; oftentimes, the professionals aren’t sure of what’s going to happen. Being prepared for anything is the best way to stay protected and keep your business online.